Seasonal Ontario Food

Peel and dice or grate the carrots and/or parsnip. Heat the butter in the soup pot and add them, along with the bay leaf. Cook over medium-low heat for about 10 to 15 minutes, covered, but stirring regularly until softened.

Meanwhile, grind the allspice, pepper, and salt together finely. When the vegetables are ready, add them, along with the barley flour and the minced herbs. Mix in well, and after a minute or so to wilt the herbs, add the stock and the chopped, drained sorrel and spinach. Let simmer for about 10 minutes, then mix in the cream or yogurt, if using. Heat to the edge of simmering, but do not let the soup boil, and serve at once. It can also be served plain and a dollop of yogurt - or sour cream, if you can get any - can be added. Or not; it's fine as-is.

Soooo...

This seems as good a time as any to say that I've been diagnosed as pre-diabetic. Things are going to have to change around here. I've always tried not to go wild with the sugar, being well aware that diabetes is not so much a possibility as a certainty on my Dad's side of the family. I've tried to pretend that I would take after Mom's side, but the observation that I am built like my Dad could not help but be made. Apparently that does include the tendency to diabetes. I do have the family sweet-tooth, however inclined I may be to cut the sugar in half when making desserts.

Yeah, this recipe is part of the problem and not part of the solution. I made it before I got the word from on high, so it won't get made again any time soon, I regret to say. It was delicious though, so go for it if you can. 

16 servings
1 hour prep time
plus allow some time to cool


Mix the Dry Ingredients:
2 cups whole spelt flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 to 8 pods of green cardamom

Put everything into a large mixing bowl. The cardamom must first be lightly crushed and the papery husks removed. Grind the remaining seed as finely as you can, and then add it to the bowl. Mix well. 

Mix the Wet Ingredients & Finish the Cake:
3 cups (375 grams; 3/4 pound) grated parsnips
1 14 ox (400ml) tin crushed pineapple
3 large eggs
2/3 cup mild vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line the bottoms of 2 8" square pans with parchment paper, and butter and flour the sides.

Peel and grate the parsnips, and put them in another mixing bowl. Add the crushed pineapple, along with all the juice. Break in the eggs, and add the oil and vanilla extract. Whisk everything together well.

Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir to combine thoroughly, but do not over-mix. Divide the batter evenly between the 2 prepared pans and spread it out evenly as well.

Bake the cakes at 350°F for about 40 minutes, until they spring back when lightly touched, or pass the toothpick test (no wet crumbs adhere to an inserted toothpick). Let cool for 10 minutes then remove from the pans to finish cooling on racks. They can be frosted and stacked, or not, as you like.




Last year at this time I made Barbunya Zeytinyagli. 

Yes, I said soup. With milk in it, even. I admit to having a prejudice against milk with pickles - I even know from whence it came; see L. M. Montgomery's The Story Girl - but in fact they work very well together, at least in this soup. These are, do I have to say, Dill Pickles by the Jar, but good purchased non-pasteurized (refrigerated) dill pickles will do in a pinch.

If you don't have any parsnips and don't want to buy a bag just to get one little one, you can lean more heavily on the carrot instead. (But go for it - then you'll have parsnips and parsnips are great.)

If you add the pickles and brine sooner, the soup will be more mellow. If you add them right towards the end, it will be much pickle-ier. It's your choice. You could also be indecisive and add some earlier and some later to steer a very pleasant middle course.

4 servings
30 minutes prep time


3 cups (500 grams; 1 pound) diced potatoes
1 medium carrot
1 small parsnip
3 cups unsalted chicken or vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2/3 cup finely diced dill pickles
1/3 cup dill pickle brine
1 tablespoon arrowroot or cornstarch
2/3 cup milk or sour cream
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Wash, trim, and dice the potatoes. Peel and grate or finely dice the carrot and parsnip. Put them in a heavy-bottomed soup pot with the stock and the bay leaf. Bring to a boil, and boil for 15 minutes until the potatoes are very tender.

Meanwhile, peel and mince the garlic. Melt the butter in your smallest pan and cook the garlic gently in it until just showing signs of turning colour. Transfer butter and garlic to the soup pot at once.

When the potatoes are tender (or sooner; see the note above) add the dill pickles to the soup. Measure the brine and mix in the starch. Mix well into the soup.

Just before serving, stir in the milk or sour cream (I used a mixture of both and recommend it) and season generously with coarsely ground black pepper. The soup should be served steaming hot but do not let it simmer (or boil) or it will curdle. 





Last year at this time I made Chicken in Goat Cheese, Mushroom, & Dried Tomato Sauce.

Parsnips with pears is a very classic combination. I will cheerfully concede that parsnips are better roasted than boiled, but I wanted the have this dish on the table and I wanted it, if not "now", then at least "30 minutes from now" and that meant boiling. By allowing the cooking water to evaporate and the parsnips to brown in the remaining butter I did get some of the benefits that roasting would have provided.

This is a very sweet vegetable dish and best served with roast pork or turkey, in my opinion. I also think that means the pepper should be applied with a particularly generous hand. I served it with cabbage and frozen snow peas cooked in a skillet; when the vegetables were turned out for serving I put in a thin layer of oil and fried up slices of peameal bacon. They cook so fast they were ready by the time everything else was on the table.

Pears can be hard to find, and by now the only ones available will be Bosc. They do very well in this dish so no worries.

4 servings
20 to 30 minutes prep time


450 grams (1 pound) parsnips
1 cup water
2 medium Bosc pears
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 or 2 pods green cardamom
1/2 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger
salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
the juice of 1/2 small lemon

Peel the parsnips and slice them fairly thinly. Put them in a pot with the water and bring them to a boil. Boil for about 5 minutes or so, until they begin to be tender when poked with a fork. Stir occasionally.

Meanwhile peel, core, and chop the pears. Add them, with the butter to the parsnips. Crush the cardamom and discard the papery green hull, then grind the seeds and add them. Grate in the ginger and season with salt and pepper - be generous with the pepper.

Continue cooking and stirring more frequently as the water evaporates and the parsnips and pears begin to cook in the butter. Cook for another 5 to 15 minutes until the parsnips are very tender and ideally a bit browned. Mash the parsnips and pears, and mix in the lemon juice. Serve at once.





Last year at this time I made Leek & Carrot Soup.

One of my favourite soups of any season is Curried Roasted Parsnip & Apple Soup. Here are all those same ingredients and flavours in a simple side dish.

Serve this with chicken or pork, cooked simply, and a green salad or vegetable.

Of course, I am now using my own Madras Curry Powder as I am no longer able to find a decent brand available to buy. Fortunately it is easy to make and the leftovers will store quite well for a while.

4 servings
1 hour 15 minutes - 15 minutes prep time


3 or 4 large parsnips
2 medium apples
4 to 6 shallots
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons Madras curry powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 375°F. 

Peel the parsnips, and cut them into 2" or slightly smaller strips. Peel and core the apples, and cut them into wedges. Peel and sliver the shallots.

Melt the butter in a shallow baking pan which will hold the above in a mostly single layer, and toss the parsnips, apples, and shallots in it. Sprinkle them with the curry powder and salt, and toss again.

Roast them for 1 hour at 375°F until tender. Serve at once. 





Last year at this time I made Brussels Sprouts "Spanako"pita.

Not sure this quite constitutes a recipe, but it is what is happening around here at the moment. A few days ago we dug up a bushel of parsnips to make way for peas.

Parsnips are available all winter for purchase and well into the spring, but it turns out that now we are growing them we mostly eat them in the spring. It is very nice to be able to go out and dig something new to eat as soon as the ground is sufficiently thawed. 

I was hoping these would form into nice little patties like proper potato hash browns and it isn't impossible, but they aren't really into it and so I just left them in a loose pile. Just as good!

I served these with eggs, and that was okay, but eggs are a little delicate in flavour next to the parsnips. I have to admit that what I really see these going with is pork; bacon, peameal, sausage, chops; whatever. Maybe next time. There is still three-quarters of a bushel to go.

2 servings
30 minutes prep time


500 grams (1 pound) parsnips
2 tablespoons bacon fat OR vegetable oil
salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

Peel and grate the parsnips coarsely.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat until melted and sizzling in a medium-sized skillet. Add the grated parsnips, stir well to toss the parsnips in the fat, and reduce the heat at once to medium-low. Dot the remaining bacon fat over the parsnips, and mix in. Season with the salt and pepper. Do be mindful of how salty your bacon fat may be.

Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. The parsnips should brown fairly evenly, and not too quickly. If they are browning too quickly, reduce the heat. If they are scorching, you may need to add a little more bacon fat.

When the parsnips are done to your liking, serve them up. Don't be dismayed by what a big pile of parsnips first go into the pan - they reduce considerably in cooking.

This parsnip and carrot kugel makes an excellent vegetarian main dish. Slicing the vegetables is a little fiddly, but easy. Once that's done, the rest is somewhat slow but very simple to do. 

Kugels traditionally often have a sweet component, and the parsnips and carrots supply that very well. I had a hard time deciding on the seasoning for this. I kept it simple and savoury (literally) but next time I might try a little nutmeg.

I have to confess that I roasted the vegetables in the casserole dish rather than on a tray; however it took me an hour to get them reasonably roasted because they were too densely piled. Next time I will do as I say: spread them out in a roughly single layer on a larger tray then transfer them to the final baking dish once they are roasted and the cheese mixture gets added. The savings in time and energy (both mine and the utility companies) will justify using the extra pan.

4 to 6 servings
2 hours - 1/2 hour prep time


Roast the Vegetables:
225 grams (1/2 pound) large parsnips (2 or 3)
225 grams (1/2 pound) large carrots (2 or 3)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 medium shallots OR 2 medium onions
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Peel and trim the parsnips and carrots; discard the trimmings. Use the vegetable peeler to continue to peel the parsnips and carrots into long, thin strips. At some point you will need to slice whatever remains into long, thin strips with a knife. Don't worry if they are not terribly even.

Put the butter in a large shallow baking tray, and put it into the oven until the butter is melted. 

Peel and cut the shallots or onions into slivers.

Toss the parsnips, carrots, and shallots or onions with the butter. Spread them out evenly on the baking tray, and roast for about 30 minutes, until softened and browned in spots. Stir once in the middle of the baking time.

Finish the Kugel:
450 grams (1 pound) ricotta cheese
4 large eggs
1 cup milk
3/4 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 teaspoons rubbed savory
200 grams (1/2 pound, scant) old Cheddar cheese

About 10 minutes before the vegetables are roasted, put the ricotta in a mixing bowl and break in the eggs. Mix them in well. Mix in the milk, salt, pepper, and savory.

Grate the Cheddar (or other hard) cheese and mix half of it into the ricotta and egg mixture.

Pile the roasted vegetables into a 8" x 11" baking (lasagne) pan and spread them out evenly. Pour the cheese mixture over them evenly, but don't stir it. Sprinkle the remaining grated cheese evenly over the top. Return the pan to the oven and continue baking at 375°F for another 45 minutes.  Let rest 10 minutes before serving.




Last year at this time I made Dad's Barley & Cheese Meatloaf.

I thought this would be a bit ho-hum, but it was actually delightful! Maybe it was just that it used the first bits of parsley that I was able to scrounge out of the garden in between snow squalls, along with a parsnip so fresh and alive it didn't even know it was out of the garden; but mixed in with (someone else's, alas) good red cabbage, this was so tangy and crunchy and lively and exactly what I was craving.

I'd have liked lemon juice on it but what I had was some good white wine vinegar, and it was better than fine. The sunflower seed oil was a cold-pressed unrefined one from a farm near Ottawa, and it was perfect for this. You could toss in a few toasted sunflower seeds, or walnut bits if you had them and wanted them, but I liked this perfectly well without them. 

4 servings
15 minutes prep time


1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
1/2 cup finely chopped or grated parsnip (1 medium small)
OR same of celeriac
1 cup finely grated red cabbage
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar OR lemon juice
2 tablespoons sunflower seed oil
salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

Wash and pick over the parsley, removing any tough stems and yellowed or wilted leaves. Chop it finely. Scrub or peel and grate the parsnip, or peel and grate the celeriac. Trim and grate the cabbage. Toss them in a small salad bowl with the vinegar or lemon juice, sunflower seed oil, and a bit of salt and pepper... that's it!

This can be made a little before mealtime, and leftovers, if covered well, don't actually keep too badly for a day or so in the fridge. 

Soufflés in general are not as difficult as their reputation would suggest; the hard part is getting your diners to the table before the inevitable collapse of your soufflé. Better to have people wait upon the soufflé, than to have the soufflé wait upon people.

This one was particularly easy to make, since so much of it can be done right in the cooking pot, and it deflated slowly, with dignity, and not excessively. And was very tasty, and well received!

Our parsnips were not great this year, as I they came up spottily and yet I did not thin them as required, so simultaneously sparse and crowded. However, the seeds must have blown around a bit, as I found several good ones growing in the bean bed when I cleaned it up, and a really magnificent one growing in the compost pile. A clue; but I already knew they like rich, moist soil. It's finding them some that is the trouble.

6 servings
1 hour 10 minutes - 40 minutes prep time


500 grams (1 pound) parsnips
100 grams (1/4 pound) peeled celeriac
200 grams (1/2 pound) Edam, Gouda, or Gruyere cheese
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons soft unbleached flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds, ground
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
4 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Clean, trim and slice the parsnips, about 1/2" thick. Peel and slice the celeriac to match. Put them in a fairly large (1 quart) pot with water to cover them - about 1 1/2 cups - and bring to a boil. Boil until tender, about 15 minutes.

While they cook, cut the cheese into fairly small dice. 

Drain the cooked vegetables, saving the cooking water and keeping them in the pot. Return the pot to the stove over medium heat, and add the butter and flour. Mix it in well, then add the salt, the cumin seeds ground, and the mustard. Add 1 cup of the vegetable cooking water, stirring it in well. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens slightly, then remove it from the heat and let it cool for about 5 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Butter a 1 to 1 1/2 quart fairly shallow baking pan.

Separate the eggs, adding the yolks to the pot of parsnips, etc, and the whites to a clean non-plastic mixing bowl. Mix the yolks into the the vegetables thoroughly. Mix in about 1/3 of the cheese cubes.

Add the cream of tartar to the egg whites, and beat them with an electric mixer until very stiff. Fold them gently into the vegetable mixture. When they are in, scrape it all into the prepared baking pan. Sprinkle the remaining cheese cubes evenly over the soufflé, poking them down just a little.

Bake the soufflé for about 30 minutes, until puffed and brown. Serve at once!

These are quick and easy to put together, and since they have a nice hit of spice they will go very well with some plain baked chicken or fish, and a green vegetable, making a simple but satisfying menu. Plus it's always good to have another recipe for parsnips, which I think tend to be a very underrated vegetable.

4 servings
1 hour 15 minutes - 15 minutes prep time


2 teaspoons fennel seed
1 teaspoon caraway seed
1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper
2 teaspoons rubbed dry mint
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon honey
450 grams (1 pound) parsnips

Grind the fennel and caraway seeds, and mix them with the remaining seasonings. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Put the butter and honey into a shallow roasting pan, into which the prepared parsnips can be put in a single layer. Put the pan in the oven until the butter is melted.

Meanwhile, peel and trim the parsnips, and cut them into long narrow pieces. Toss them in the roasting pan with the melted butter and honey, then toss them again with the seasoning mixture. Spread them out to a single layer. Roast them for 1 hour, stirring once in the middle of cooking them, until tender and lightly browned.




Last year at this time I made Spelt & Rye Bread.

These crisp and crunchy parnip wedges are a great addition to baked chicken or fish, and a simple green vegetable. 

4 servings
1 hour 15 minutes - 15 minutes prep time


2 tablespoons unsalted butter
450 grams (1 pound) parsnips
2 tablespoons cream
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup fine dry bread crumbs
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Put the butter in a shallow roasting pan, and put it in the oven to melt.

Meanwhile, peel and trim the parsnips, and cut them into thin wedges 2" or 3" long. When the butter has melted, add the cream and toss the parsnip pieces in the butter and cream until evenly coated. Bake for 20 minutes.

Grate the cheese, and mix it with the breadcrumbs and pepper.

Toss the parsnips with the crumb mixture, and sprinkle any remaining of it over them. Return them to the oven for another 40 minutes, until they are tender and the coating is golden-brown.




Last year at this time I made Smoked Trout Barley Kedgeree.

Well, this is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin. It's a very nice combination, at any rate.

I felt like having fairly solid lumps of Brussels sprout, so I cut mine in half although they were fairly large. Next time I might cut them smaller, and have the sprouts and mash more of a mixture. It's one of those things where you should just do what you like; it's all good.

4 servings
20 minute prep time


450 grams (1 pound) parsnips
450 grams (1 pound) Brussels sprouts
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

Peel and trim the parsnips, and cut them into 1/2 cm slices. Put them in a pot with water to cover and bring them to a boil; boil until tender, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, trim the Brussels sprouts and cut them in halves or quarters depending on size. Heat 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large skillet, and add the Brussels sprouts and about 1 cup of water. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until the water is evaporated, and the Brussels sprouts brown in spots. Stir them regularly throughout this process, especially as the water evaporates and the sprouts begin to brown.

When the parsnips are cooked, drain them and mash them with the remaining butter and the salt and pepper. Scrape all the mash into the pan with the Brussels sprouts - or vice versa - and mix well. Once everybody is playing together nicely, tip the whole mess into a serving dish, and serve.

Well spring is here, I guess; but it's still soup weather, that's for sure.

This one uses our own dried tomatoes with someone else's nice fat parsnips (I think we have some, but we would have to squelch through quite the swamp to look for them). Onion, garlic and chile flavours take the parsnips in a direction they don't often go in - at least not around here - but it all works very well. As ever, be prepared to adjust the seasoning quantities to your own taste, and to allow for the fact that different chile sauces can be... quite different.

If you can't get dried tomatoes, use some canned crushed tomatoes instead. It will increase the final amount of soup slightly, but not exactly a problem.

4 servings
1 hour - 30 minutes prep time


500 grams (1 pound; 4 large) parsnips
1 large onion
4 to 6 cloves of garlic
1 tablespon mild vegetable oil
1 teaspoon cumin seed, ground
1 tablespoon sweet Hungarian Paprika
1 teaspoon salt (if using unsalted chicken stock)
4 cups (1 litre; 1 quart) chicken stock
1/2 cup dried tomatoes
OR 2 cups crushed tomatoes
1 teaspoon sugar
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon chile-garlic sauce

Peel the parsnips and cut them into 1/4" or so slices. Peel and chop the onion. Peel, trim, and slice the garlic. 

Heat the oil in a large skillet along with about 1/2 cup of water. Add the parsnip slices and cook, turning regularly, until the water has evaporated and the parsnips are beginning to brown. Add the chopped onion, and continue cooking and stirring until the onion has softened and is slightly browned as well. Mix in the garlic slices, the ground cumin seeds, and the paprika, and cook for another minute or so, until the garlic too has softened, and the spices are well blended in.

At this point, you can add the chicken stock and tomatoes to the skillet if it is large enough, or transfer the vegetables to a large soup pot with the chicken stock and tomatoes if it isn't. Bring the mixture to a simmer and simmer until the tomatoes are tender, or about 30 minutes. Test the broth and add the salt if it is needed. Stir occasionally.

Purée the soup in a blender, and season with the sugar, pepper, and chile garlic sauce; adjust any other seasonings as seems necessary. Reheat the soup to serve. 




Last year at this time I made Lentils with Rhubarb - things were definitely a little further along! - and Arugula Pesto.

Many years ago, when soup stocks didn't come in cartons, and vegetarian soup stocks didn't come at all, I needed to create a broth to use for soups for my vegetarian friends. Cookbooks at the time advised saving all your vegetable peelings, and cooking them in water for hours, just like soup bones.

It took me several attempts to figure out why these always tasted of nothing but overcooked vegetables.

Uh.

Yeah, I know. But they said you could, in actual printed cookbooks!

Anyway, I still needed a vegetarian soup stock, so I put on my thinking cap, and over the years this is where I have arrived, so far as mock chicken stock anyway. You know how I'm always going on about saving your shiitake mushroom stems? Yep, this is where they go.

I hope it's clear from my ingredient list that you need one celery type thing, one carrot type thing, and one parsnip or parsley type thing; it's just that the exact form can depend on the season and what you have on hand. Peelings and trimmings are thriftier, but sometimes you just need to make soup so whole veggies it has to be.

Even if you are not a vegetarian, this is a handy broth to be able to make because it is so much quicker than real chicken broth. Note that it should NOT be simmered for hours - 30 minute is about the maximum, and 20 minutes may be better depending on how hard it is simmering. But you don't want to take it into that overcooked vegetable territory, so taste it occasionally after the 15 minute mark.

I have not tried it but I don't see why this wouldn't freeze well.

The only drawback it has is that it does tend to separate, so you may wish to thicken it with a little starch, which should slow down the precipitation process. I tend to use it in recipes rather than straight up, which makes that less of a problem. I would have said this is not quite as good as real chicken stock, and if we are talking chicken stock you make yourself I'd still say that's the case. However, I would not hesitate to back it against some of the so-called chicken stocks that come out of cartons.

Make about 4 cups (1 quart; 1 litre)
30 to 40 minutes prep time


The ingredients in the pot, ready to start cooking, above; and the finished stock, below, ready to be used to make soup or whereever chicken stock is called for.


1 cup diced celeriac
OR 1 large stalk of celery, OR equivalent trimmings;
1 medium carrot OR the peelings from 3 carrots;
1 small parsnip OR parsley root, OR the peelings from 2 parsnips
OR a small handful of fresh parsley
2 bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon dried chives (optional)
2 tablespoons good tasting yeast
1/2 cup dried shiitake mushroom stems
4 cups of water
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt

If using entire pieces of vegetable, wash them very well, trim them as needed, and cut them into large bite-sized chunks.

Put all the ingredients in a large pot, and  bring them to a boil. Immediately reduce the heat to a simmer and simmer, covered, for 20 to 30 minutes - no longer. Strain well and add the salt while it is still warm. Start with 1/2 teaspoon and taste it. Add more if needed, but consider what else you are adding to the soup. Also, you can top it up with water to make 4 cups if some has boiled off, but it cooks quickly and covered so it shouldn't lose too much.

This was a simple but very effective way to serve parsnips!

I dried the prunes myself in the summer, which is the only way you will get local ones, I'm afraid. Consequently, they were quite firm - not to say hard - and I soaked them in boiling water before I added them to the parsnips, along with the tiny amount of liquid still on them. I also used half the amount of butter I am calling for. It was adequate, I suppose, but I had to watch the parsnips very carefully to keep them from scorching. Better to use a bit more butter if you can.

Be sure to keep the heat at medium when you cook the parsnips, both with the water and after, to make sure they are cooked through by the time they are well browned. 

4 servings
20 minutes prep time


450 grams (1 pound) parsnips
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup quartered prunes
the juice of 1/2 lemon
salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

Peel and trim the parsnips, and cut them into bite-sized slivers. Heat the butter in a medium-sized skillet, and when it sizzles add the parsnips and the water - pour the water in slowly and carefully so it doesn't spatter all over. Cook the parsnips over medium heat, turning occasionally, for the 5 minutes or so that it takes for the water to evaporate.

Once the water evaporates, continue cooking the parsnips for another 5 or 10 minutes, turning them occasionally so that they are evenly browned. When they are nicely browned and tender, add the prunes and the lemon juice. Sprinkle with a little salt and a grind of black pepper. Continue to cook and turn the parsnips until the lemon juice has been absorbed - just a minute or two more - then turn them into a serving dish.

I've done Kedgeree before, but  this is a simpler and quicker version; also a fair bit cheaper to do without the wild rice. I used barley, which worked quite well I thought. I used  a non-fat Greek style yogurt to finish it, and was actually quite impressed by how well it worked. Cream, I'm sure, would have been better, but it was fine.

4 servings
40 minutes prep time, not including cooking the rice and eggs.


Cook the Barley & Eggs:
1 cup raw barley
3 cups water
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 or 4 large eggs

Either put the barley, water, and salt into a rice cooker and turn it on, or put them in a large saucepan and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, cooking until the barley is tender and most of the water absorbed; about 45 minutes. Keep covered. This can be done up to 24 hours in advance.

Put the eggs in a saucepan with water to cover them, and bring them to a boil. Boil for one minute, then turn off the heat and leave them, covered in the pan, for 10 minutes. Rinse under cold water until they can be handled, then peel them. This too can be done up to 24 hours in advance.

Finish the Kedgeree:
2 medium onions
OR 1 large leek
1 or 2 stalks of celery
OR 1 1/2 cups peeled diced celeriac
2 medium parsnips
2 or 3 cloves of garlic
450 grams (1 pound) smoked trout
1 tablespoon mild vegetable oil
1 teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika
1/8 to 1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper
salt & pepper to taste
1 cup cream or yogurt

Peel and chop the onions, or trim and chop the leek, rinsing and draining it well. Trim and chop the celery or celeriac. Peel and grate the parsnips (or chop them finely). Peel and mince the garlic.

Peel the skin from the trout and discard it. Check it for bones, and remove any you find. Cut it into coarse dice. Chop the eggs roughly, but keep a few nice slices as a garnish.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add all the vegetables except the garlic, and cook, stirring frequently, until softened and slightly browned; about 5 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and the seasonings, and mix in well, cooking for another minute or so. Add the trout and the barley, and continue cooking and stirring until they are hot through and everything is well amalgamated. Add the cream or yogurt, and the chopped eggs, and continue cooking and stirring until it to is well mixed in and everything is hot through. Serve garnished with the reserved egg slices.




Last year at this time I made Edamame, Carrot, Endive & Quinoa Salad, and Baked Beans & Weiners.